Using Azolla Pinnata for Wastewater Treatment from Poultry Farm

Abstract

Waste water from animal farm especially from poultry industry is one of the sources of non-point source water pollution in Thailand. Plants can be a practical tool for waste water treatment. Aquatic fern (Azolla pinnata) has been used to for organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus removal from waste water and can be good for increase soil fertility. The objectives of this study were to use Azolla pinnata for poultry industry wastewater treatment and to assess the potential use of Azolla pinnata biomass for increasing fertility of soil resource. The results found that Azolla pinnata can reduce BOD of wastewater from slaughter to 41% and produce the biomass of Azolla pinnata 90, 167, 245% in 100, 50, 25% dilution of wastewater, respectively. This study demonstrated that Azolla pinnata can be taken into consideration as a tool for wastewater treatment from agriculture activities especially suitable wastewater treatment for small poultry farming.